Monday, December 29, 2014

There is evidence of the pear being used as a food since prehistoric times. Many traces of it have been found in Swiss lake-dwellings and the word "pear" occurs in Celtic languages. There is even a recipe for a spiced, stewed-pear patina (or souffle) in the Roman cookbook attributed to Apicius.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Microscope World is excited to introduce our newest Industrial iPad Microscope system. This stereo zoom microscope has 7x - 46x continuous zoom magnification and is outfitted with a WiFi camera that provides a live image directly to the iPad. Images can be captured and saved on the iPad, and adjustments can be made to color, exposure, and gain.

The iPad stereo zoom system is available with two different iPad stand options. A stand that clamps to the table and is flexible for positioning the iPad right at eye level near the microscope is available.

The alternate stand available is a small metal table stand that can hold the iPad near the microscope, or a bit further away from the working area.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

The digital biological microscope system includes an iPad Mini 2 tablet with the microscopy App pre-installed, WiFi camera with its own network, and a laboratory biological microscope that provides 40x, 100x, 400x and 1000x magnification.

View live images from the microscope directly on the iPad. The tools included in the Software App allow for adjustment of color, exposure and gain, and white balance. Images can be captured and saved directly onto the iPad. When not using the microscope, the iPad can be used around the lab, office or home for other uses.

Monday, December 15, 2014

When snowflakes fall on mittens or coats, it is fascinating to view the unique intricate details and designs of each one. Wilson A. Bentley lived in Jericho, Vermont (1865-1931) and was much ahead of his time in discovering that "no two snowflakes are alike."

Bentley was a self-educated farmer and attracted attention from around the world with his pioneering photomicrography of snow crystals. He adapted a microscope to a bellows camera and became the first person to photograph a single snow crystal in 1885.

Wilson Bentley

Throughout his lifetime Bentley captured over 5000 snowflakes, never finding two alike. Over the years his photographs were acquired by Universities throughout the world and have been published in many articles and magazines.

Wilson Bentley used a compound microscope (high power biological microscope) to view and photograph the snowflakes. However, there were no digital microscopes back when Bentley performed his snowflake photomicrography. He was creative and attached his bellows camera to the microscope in order to capture the beautiful images.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Mud logging is the creation of a detailed record (known as a well log) of a borehole by examining the cuttings of rock brought to the surface of the earth with a circulating drill. Mud logging is commonly used in petroleum exploration, but it is also sometimes used when drilling wells for water or other mineral exploration.

Mud logging tracks the following:

Rate of penetration - the rate at which the drill bit breaks the rock under it when it deepens the borehole.

Porosity - the pore space within the rock structure. A good analogy is to think of the holes in a sponge, oil and gas resides within this space.

Lithology - color, texture, grain size of the sample.

Gas - heavy gases such as ethane, propane, and butane are detected to help determine the type of oil or gas that is contained in the location.

Mud logging microscopes are used to measure the lithology (color, texture, grain size) of the sample, usually at a lower magnification (10x - 20x). Below is a sample of drill cuttings of shale from drilling an oil well in Louisiana. In the image the sand grain and red shale are about 2mm in diameter.

Credit: Mud Engineer / Wikipedia

The sample above would be considered about 90% shale, 5% sand and 5% lime when listed in the mud log.

Mud logging microscopes provide magnification in the range of 10x - 45x and typically utilize either a ring light or a built in LED light on the stand. Some mud logging companies prefer a microscope with a camera in order to easily document their findings. Pseudo-darkfield illumination is sometimes used to bring out features of a specimen not normally seen under brightfield light. You can view mud logging microscopes here.